August Wrap Up
Hello, my lovelies,
August has come to an end and I must admit I am a little bit relieved. Fall has always been my favorite season so every year once September 1st hits I just get this weird feeling of relief. I am looking forward to this September, despite the madness that has been 2020. Before I jump into the new month however I need to go over my reading from August.
I am glad to report (please knock on wood as you read this) that the Reading Slump From Hell is over. I am not challenging the universe here, I am just reporting on the status of things as I see them. I have read everything I put on my August TBR, except for Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer. I have read about 400 pages of it but my rage was getting out of control so I had to stop and step away. I will come back to it and finish it up so I can do a review thought… Why do I do these things to myself? Anyhow, without further ado, here are the books I have read in August.
The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J Maas- I finally did it. Praise the sweet baby robot greater being of your choice. I loved this book. I have a full review up for it if you want to know my deep thoughts. Suffice it to say after this one my reading picked up speed, so take that as you will.
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer- did I ever mention to you guys that I love history? If I have not, here it is. I love history. I read sections of this book for a class previously and this month just seemed like the right time to read the whole thing for fun. And I had fun. The author was going for as immersive an experience as he could and I think he did a great job. I plan on reading the other books in the series sometimes as well. We shall see when.
The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan- I knew I was going to love this. This is my 89879879 time reading it after all. It was still great and I still laughed out laud. I still got sad at certain parts. In this book, things get dark and considering the source material it makes complete sense.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley- it was a solid mystery. I loved the setting. I have a weakness for abandoned islands with castles and graveyards left standing. I had a hard time rooting for any of the characters but I think that was the whole point. I also wanted a bit more there at the end but overall I was satisfied.
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead- I decided I wanted to reread this. I partially blame Alex from ACOBAF (@ACOBAF on Instagram) because she had a piece of artwork commissioned… yeah. I forgot how fun this was. If you want vampires done right please go read this one. This series starts small and then expends to beyond your wildest expectations.
Alpha Night by Nalini Singh- reading this series feels like coming home to friends. I have so many fictional friends. They outnumber my real-life friends 10 to 1. I don’t want to say too much about this book because it’s book nineteen (?) in a series so everything is a spoiler at this point. Suffice it to say I will happily throw these books at you if given the opportunity. Well more like gently tap you with the book because I don’t want to destroy it.
Thunderhead by Neal Schusterman- Oh. My. God. Guys, why did I wait so long to read this book? It was amazing, truly amazing. I could not stop reading it. I planned to read a chapter or two in the morning then come back later the day I started. I ended up reading it all day. I scared my dog screaming at the characters. I bombarded my friend (hi Rue) with crazed texts. Read this series. It is… well I don’t want to say amazing again in the space of a paragraph. But it is.
A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh- apparently Nalini Singh can write anything well. This was her first attempt at a thriller, and she did not disappoint. I have not read a lot of books set in New Zealand and I enjoyed exploring that part of the world through fiction. Per usual with Nalini’s books, the characters were fantastic.
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan- I had to finish the series at this point. Percy Jackson is one of my absolute favorite fictional characters ever, and somehow I never get bored following along with his crazy life. I think I will just keep my Riordan re-read going.
The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa- this was the best in the series for sure. I was extremely annoyed at all the men thinking they know best and got an unhealthy amount of joy when they were proven wrong. Our heroine also finally found herself in this one so yay! I will keep the Kagawa read-along going as well.
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin- I finally did a reread for this book, I was trying to be good and non-obsessive about it. I finally reread it in preparation for the release of the sequel in September. I love this book. I do not know what it is that I love about it, but something just clicked in my brain. It’s not that often you find a book that gives you the brain click. No. No, I do not know what I am talking bout anymore.
Eragon by Christopher Paolini- I originally planned to read this one in September but I “accidentally” picked it up. By accidentally I mean that FaeCrate made me do it. FaeCrate is a book subscription box, go check their website out here. They are doing a dust jacket set for the series and I just had to read them again before that. I mean there are dragons okay. Saphira is the best. She is such a dragon but also such a compassionate being.
A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet- I had such a blast reading this book. It had a little of everything to appeal to me. Cat was a fantastic narrator. All the men were hot, and can I just say how unfair that is? I also really enjoyed the magic and the society set up. The romance was a thing to behold, and it was my favorite trope ever. “Enemies to lovers” is my favorite trope in case some of you had the chance to forget. This was an unexpected joy this month.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman- I read this accidentally. I checked it out from the library in audiobook format and put it on to see if I liked the narration style. A few hours later I was done with the book. It was a very quick read, but very good. It is a middle-grade book and so the world-building is looser than it is in Gaiman’s other works but the magic was still there.
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop- Oh dear, I don’t know how I feel about this one. I have been interested in this series for ages, but I am glad I did not read it until now. I think if I read it when I was younger I would not have seen the complexities in it. There is a lot of things in this I am not okay with, but there is also a lot that is fascinating and well done. I need more time to think about it.
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane- Honestly I forgot how fun it is to pick a book up at random. This one was on my TBR because everything is, but I was not planning on reading it soon. Then I found myself with a few extra days of August and just read whatever caught my eye. I liked this book, I did not love it. The author did some fascinating things, but I had a problem getting attached to any of the characters. Y’all know how I feel about that.
Alright, ladies and gents, This is it. These are all the books I have read in August. It feels so good to have a decent amount of books on my Wrap Up again. I missed inhabiting so many different worlds. Overall August was a great reading month.
Come tell me about the books you have read in august. Come tell me if you have read any of the books on this list and what you think about them. Just come talk books with me.
I will see you all tomorrow because this post was longer than I expected and so I still need to go over my September TBR. At this rate, you will get sick of me.
Bye, my lovelies,
Anna
